University Business - May 2010 - (Page 58)

COMMUNIT Y C O L L E G E S Universitydegree completion opportunities Centers Partnerships for greater By Ann McClure ot haviNg articulation agreements isn’t the only thing holding students back when transferring from a two-year to a four-year institution. Most of these students still have the life issues that prompted them to attend a community college initially. an education model that can help them overcome these challenges is a university center, which combines the degree completion opportunities of fouryear schools with the local convenience of a community college campus. “Busy adults can’t travel and not everyone can learn online,” notes cary israel, president of Collin College (texas). the collin higher Education center opened in January with more than 500 students and offerings from five university partners. While each teaching center is unique, all of these centers have the goal of bringing education to underserved areas. Meeting DeManD the university center’s look can range from its own campus to available classroom space at an existing community college. Students may have dual-enrollment, but usually they are official students of the home campus offering the program. christine Kerlin, vice president of the university center of North Puget Sound (Wash.), says the model is a wave of the future. “it offers an efficient and effective means of engaging people in advanced education.” her center began as a consortium in 1997 and evolved into a center managed by everett Community College in 2006, with programs offered by seven universities. She adds, “We use space the community college doesn’t have scheduled, and the degrees already exist.” a recent association for consortium 58 | May 2010 N leadership survey discovered 64 u.S. organizations that self-identify as a “higher education center.” they form either when a community college teams with a senior college or university, or when a state legislature decides an area is underserved, says Fred Baus, president/cEo of the university center of greenville (S.c.). his center falls into the second category. Choosing PrograMs israel calls it “an answer to not jumping straight to offering a community college baccalaureate.” initially, 10 universities with existing preadmission agreements with collin college were invited to join the center. community surveys helped determine program offerings and got universities interested in joining, says Brenda Kihl, associate vice president of Strategic initiatives. ‘Busy adults can’t travel and not everyone can learn online.’ —Cary Israel, Collin College community demand also guides program offerings at the university Partnership center at st. Petersburg College (Fla.), says catherine Kennedy, associate vice president. When students request information on the uPc website, they are actually filling out a survey. a goal is to build a ladder from St. Pete’s own offerings to an Ma program. the uPc opened in 2000, so the partners’ academic advisors are familiar with each others’ offerings and will help transition students to the next level. other guiding factors include requests from local businesses or area universities that may find students near one of St. Pete’s 10 campuses applying but not enrolling. “We tap into data,” Kennedy says, particularly in deciding which campus is best for holding classes. Demonstrating demand is a big part of the program approval process at the university center of lake county (ill.), says hilary Ward Schnadt, associate dean for academic services and programs. a facility to house the center opened in 2005, but Schnadt is still concerned about ensuring low demand programs are not taking up valuable space. also key in selecting programs is avoiding duplication. “We don’t want to split the market,” says Kerlin. Yet, one partner can offer an online MBa while another uses a hybrid model, since those delivery methods attract different people. Schnadt also tries to avoid duplicate programs, but finds the difference can be the institution offering the program, as is the case with allowing a public, a private, and a fully online institution to each offer an Ma in Education leadership. it’s best to give a new program two years to build a following before introducing another version, she advises. Cat herDing an advisory board with partner institution representatives is standard practice, but who should have ultimate control? israel subscribes to the community college having strong control of the center to ensure programs meet the needs of students, not the providing institutions. after all, the centers provide “a pipeline for the students to come from the community universitybusiness.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - May 2010

University Business - May 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Money Matters
Models of Efficiency
Fast, Friendly Fix-its
Go With the Flow: Campus Traffic and Parking Solutions
What’s New
Community Colleges
End Note

University Business - May 2010